Climate Refugees: Environmental Health and Displaced Populations

By Nicholas Diamond, CAMTech

April 6, 2017

Research

In 2015, 3.3% of the global population was displaced, according to data from the United Nations Population Fund. This totals 244 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world. As a comparison, this is the same as approximately two-thirds of the population of the United States. Each year since 2008, 22.5 million people have been displaced by climate-related events. These climate-related events include floods, storms, wildfires, and high temperatures due to climate change.

In addition, the EPA cites public health as a climate change indicator. In the United States, climate change has impacted the prevalence of Lyme disease and West Nile virus, ragweed pollen season, heat-related morbidity and mortality, and agriculture.
Globally, climate change has impacted drinking water, crops, livestock, and food security.Twitter

A UNHCR report found the primary causes of morbidity and mortality among refugees include measles, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections, malaria, and malnutrition. Health challenges specific to climate refugees are related to a lack of shelter, hygiene, and nutrition.

Laws, policies, and programs for climate refugees

Although there is an abundance of research providing evidence of climate change, as Maggie Thomas recently wrote for Public Health Post, there are gaps in how policymakers respond to the health needs of climate refugees. The United Nations passed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to bolster the global response to climate change. According to UNHCR, the Agreement includes three provisions applicable to climate refugees: (1) the Preamble references climate change and migrants; (2) the Agreement mentions “the protection of people, the resilience of communities, and the importance of livelihoods;” and (3) the Agreement tasks the Warsaw International Mechanism with creating a task force on displacement.

However, Somini Sengupta emphasizes how the Paris Agreement fails climate refugees because the accord will not be expanded to specifically address those displaced by the environment. If the global public health community seeks to mitigate poor health outcomes among climate refugees, then it must advocate for continued research and strengthened laws, policies, and programs. This depends on journalists, policymakers, and academics understanding the relationship between environmental health and displaced populations.

Nicholas Diamond is the Marketing and Communications Manager for CAMTech at Massachusetts General Hospital Global Health, where he leads the marketing and communications strategy. He is interested in improving health in vulnerable populations through strategic communications. Nicholas graduated from the Boston University School of Public Health and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and focused on sex, sexuality, gender and health. He was a Public Health Post Fellow in 2016. Follow him @NickDiamondMPH.